Duplications
by CellarDoor96
Summary: Celebi is running late. Celebi, the time-traveling Pokemon, is late. For a date with Azelf, no less. What happens when she finally arrives and finds him... kissing... herself? Celebi/Azelf. Oneshot. Sequel to "Friendly Visit".


I do not own Pokemon or the characters' species, but I own the characters.

**Duplications**

Celebi hurried through the forest, pumping her insect-like wings as quickly as possible. _I'm going to be late! Ugh, I'm never late!_

She was going to visit Lake Valor again. This had become a somewhat common occurrence in the past year, ever since that visit last year when she had realized she was in love with the lake's main resident: Azelf.

But now something rather _un_common was happening. Celebi was late. Celebi, the time-traveling Pokemon, who wandered through time as easily as any other Pokemon wandered through space, was late. Now this was a rare occurrence.

She calculated in her head as she flew. _I'm nearly two miles away, and I said I would be there in…_ She glanced at the sky, seeing the sun's position. _…Five minutes from now. Maybe I can make it…_

She strained her wings harder, ignoring their increasingly painful protest, her heart beating wildly as she sucked in as much air as she could with each breath. _I have to get there!_

The reason for her unpunctuality was, unfortunately, one she herself had come to associate with humans and their lazy ways. She had slept in.

Five minutes of rushing through the forest later, she finally slowed down, falling to the ground weakly and breathing heavily. She was still not at Lake Valor; it was about half a mile away.

_I can't believe I slept so long… Ugh. Why?! How could this happen to me?_ She slammed a fist into the ground. _Okay, maybe that's being a little overdramatic… But I don't think I could do a time-travel now, I thought I could make it, but I just wasted all my energy. I probably should have done it before trying to get there on my own…_

She waited until her breathing had returned to normal. Then she sat up wearily, closing her eyes. _I'll… rest a little, then try and time-travel. Yes. That works. It's not like I'm in any hurry or anything…_

Celebi laid on her side, her eyes still closed, curled into a fetal position, and fell asleep without even realizing it.

~.~

Celebi gradually returned to awareness, feeling peaceful. She listened to the forest noises around her, content to simply lie there with her eyes closed. She didn't want to wake up.

Then she remembered. Her eyes flew open, and she jolted upright. _What time is it?!_ Looking up at the sky, she saw to her dismay that several hours had passed while she was asleep. _I slept too long – again!_

She shook her head to clear it, rising to her feet. _I need to time-travel, definitely. There's no chance at all of Azelf forgiving me if I show up this late…_

With that thought, she immediately closed her eyes, concentrating, and disappeared in a flash of light.

~.~

When Celebi reopened her eyes, she was standing in the same place she had been. Glancing at the sky, she saw to her satisfaction that the sun was back where it had been at the time she had arranged to meet Azelf. Smiling, she fluttered her wings and rose into the air, ignoring the feeling of weakness that followed a successful time-travel. Then she realized something. _Oh no, I forgot that I have to get there, too!_

She groaned in annoyance. It would take a short time to get there, and she had only gone as far back as the meeting time. That meant she would still be late… And she couldn't do another time-travel yet.

_Oh well, at least I won't be too late…_ She zoomed off in the direction of the lake.

About a minute later, Celebi caught a glimpse of sunlight reflecting off water from between the branches. She sighed in relief, slowing. _Good._

A telepathic voice suddenly echoed through her head. "Really?"

Celebi stopped in her tracks, hovering. The voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it…

Another voice spoke in her head then. This one she recognized; it was Azelf. "Y-yeah…"

Curious, Celebi flew up into the forest's canopy, alighting on a branch and peering through the vegetation at the ground below, by the lakeshore.

What she saw shocked her. Two people, or rather Pokemon, were sitting next to the lake. One was Azelf, a blue, fairy-like Pokemon with a red gem in his forehead. The other was a green, also fairy-like creature with two insect-like wings. They were kissing. Celebi stared; that was _her_. Azelf was kissing _her_.

She immediately was flooded with a number of emotions, among them jealousy, anger, and confusion, as she tried to make sense of this. She couldn't, and so she flew off the branch she was perched on and down to the ground, landing now on the grass.

Entering the clearing where Lake Valor was situated, she stared angrily at the two Pokemon, then called telepathically, "AZELF!"

They both jumped, separating and turning crimson in the same instant, and turned to stare at Celebi. Celebi stared back at both of them, Azelf and… herself.

There was an awkward silence. Then Celebi demanded, "What is going on?!"

Azelf was too confused to even be embarrassed. "W-what? How…" He glanced between the two Celebi.

The other Celebi stared, then stood up. "Wait, you're me!"

Celebi nodded, her anger fading and being replaced by bewilderment. "Are you… a Ditto?"

The other Celebi shook her head vehemently. "No! Are you?"

"No…!"

Azelf gulped, standing and stepping forward. "Okay, so what's going on here?"

Celebi glared at him, crossing her arms. "You… you were cheating on me!"

He glanced at the other Celebi guiltily. "Um, I… Are you Celebi?"

"Yes!" both of them said at once.

Azelf cringed. "Okay, well then…" He paused for a moment, then turned to the Celebi who had just arrived. "You… Celebi told me she would meet me a few minutes ago. She," he gestured at the Celebi standing next to him, "came then, but—"

The one he'd gestured at widened her eyes. "Wait, I didn't say anything like that…"

He froze. "You didn't?"

The newly-arrived Celebi walked up to the other two Pokemon, then stopped in front of them and said, "I was running late, and I wore myself out trying to fly here in time, so I fell asleep, and then time-traveled back here…"

Azelf absorbed that information. "Why were you late?"

She blushed in embarrassment, looking at the ground. "I, uh, I kind of overslept…"

The other Celebi suddenly gasped. "Wait, I remember doing that! But it was… A long time ago, I'm not sure how long… Maybe the equivalent of a year?"

Azelf glanced between them. "Hold on, you can both time-travel, right?"

They nodded.

"Then… Maybe one of you is a past version of Celebi, and the other is a future version?"

Both Celebi glanced at each other. Then the one next to him commented, "I think that would make me the future version… Like I said, I remember this, only I was you." She gestured at the Celebi who had just arrived.

The other Celebi frowned. "Alright, I guess that makes sense…"

Azelf smiled, although inside he was breathing a sigh of relief. "See, everything's fine. If both of you are the same person, then…"

"You weren't cheating on me," the newly arrived Celebi finished. "Alright, I forgive you." She smiled.

The first Celebi frowned. "Okay, so now that we know what happened… What now?"

There was another awkward silence. Then Azelf said nervously, "I don't know, I can't tell either of you to just go away… Maybe you both could stay?"

Inwardly each Celebi groaned, both had been wanting to be alone with Azelf. The first Celebi suggested timidly, "Maybe I should go away? I mean, I was sort of intruding, if you two were planning to meet here…"

The other Celebi shook her head. "No, if anyone was intruding it was me, after all you two…" She trailed off, feeling a pang of jealousy.

Azelf winced. "Uh, no, both of you can stay. I mean, it would be sort of weird to have to choose between two of the same person…"

The first Celebi sighed. "Alright, well I hadn't realized how early in time I was. That explains why it didn't make any sense when you…" She trailed off, turning red.

Azelf blushed. "O-oh yeah, that… I was wondering too…"

The other Celebi stared at them. "What? What happened?"

Azelf gulped. "I… well… I said something to her I meant to say to you."

"What?"

He looked very uncomfortable, glancing between the two Celebi for several seconds, the red of his face growing deeper. Finally he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "I-I said I was… was in love with you, and… well… do you want to be my mate?"

The newcomer Celebi froze, a blush spreading across her face. The other Celebi sat and watched them, trying to be unobtrusive.

After several seconds, the newcomer Celebi responded. "Uh, y-yes, I guess… I mean, yes…" She swallowed.

Azelf sighed in relief and collapsed to a sitting position. "Thanks. Sorry, I guess I felt uncomfortable with someone watching, even though you're both the same person…"

There was yet another awkward silence. Then the first Celebi smiled. "Congratulations." She laughed. "I got to see you propose to me _again_. I didn't realize this was the same day…"

Of course, this remark caused another awkward silence. Finally Azelf said, "Um…"

The other Celebi smiled, too. "Thanks, Azelf. Huh, if you didn't ask me I was going to…" She moved forward and hugged him.

He hugged her back, and then they kissed.

They were interrupted by the first Celebi saying, "Well, goodbye, Azelf. I didn't realize that this was the day, so I'll go now and leave you two alone…"

They separated, and Azelf smiled and waved. "Goodbye."

She gave him an affectionate smile, then turned her gaze to the other Celebi. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you soon. Nice to meet me."

The other Celebi grinned. "See you in the future."

"Right." With that, the first Celebi flashed, and was gone.

Azelf glanced at the remaining Celebi. "So… that was a little awkward."

She nodded and sighed. "Yes, it definitely was."

He gave a nervous grin. "Sorry. Were you… jealous?"

She turned red. "Yes… a little…"

He closed his eyes and rubbed his head. "Huh… I'd been wondering why you were acting a little… differently than usual."

"How so?"

"Well… you were a lot quieter than you normally are, I wondered if some sort of miracle had occurred or—"

"Hey! I don't talk _that_ much!" She punched him playfully.

He laughed. "Okay, you're right, I was kidding. But she was even quieter than you are."

"…It's not every day you get to meet your future self. Even for me." Celebi shrugged. "By the way, how should we keep this from happening again?"

He shrugged. "Don't time-travel?"

She shook her head. "That would be boring." She giggled.

He grunted. "Well, then, I don't know, just keep track of your dates and everything. Does it really matter? I mean, no matter what time you came from it's still you, right?"

She hesitated. "Yes, I suppose… Still…"

He embraced her. "I'll still love every version of you I find."

She blushed. "Th-thanks…"

Then they each took a deep breath, and kissed.


End file.
